Raymond L. Garthoff

Because the Cold War was based upon the Soviet worldview that conflict between communism and capitalism was inevitable, only a Soviet leader could end the Cold War, argues Raymond L. Garthoff in the following viewpoint. Mikhail Gorbachev, who rejected this worldview, led the Soviet Union away from confrontation and toward cooperation, thus transforming Soviet policy and ending the Cold War. According to Garthoff, Gorbachev believed that maintaining a balance of interests rather than a balance of power should be the basis of the Soviet Union’s relationship with the rest of the world. As a result, Garthoff maintains, Gorbachev negotiated arms reduction agreements, increased Soviet support for United Nations peacekeeping efforts, and convinced the Soviet Communist Party to accept the transition of Eastern European nations...